Riley Offline
by Books In the Blood
Summary: It started off as such a good day and then it ended so horribly even Joy didnt know what to do. When Riley is seriously injured and becomes unconscious, the emotions contemplate what Riley means to them and try to figure out what they can possibly do to help their girl.
1. Chapter 1

_This is my first Inside Out fanfic. Please let me know what you think :)_

It had been the perfect kind of day in Joy's opinion. The day, a Saturday, a plus already, had started off with Riley watching cartoons and having chocolate chip pancakes with Dad. Riley had had a perfect day at hockey practice, beating her personal best at goals made. She had also made a new friend, her first since the move; a girl named Holly who had also just moved to San Francisco. After practice, Mom and Dad had taken Riley for ice cream. Now, they were riding in the car back to the house. Riley had her head poked out the window, arm flying out in the air like a bird. Joy sighed in pleasure as she leaned on the console and watched her. It was the perfect day for Joy because it was the perfect day for Riley.

"Joy, don't you think we should do something? She's sticking her head out like a dog" Disgust said, hands on her hips as she surveyed the sight of bright sunshine and green trees flying past the car. "I mean, come on…a bug could hit her! Gross!"

"A bug hitting her is the least of our worries!" Fear said, biting his nails. "What if she isn't looking and hits her arm on a tree…..or a bridge!"

"That's ridiculous" Disgust said, rolling her eyes. "She isn't going to hit a bridge!"

"Personally, I think it's too calm" Anger said, squinting at the screen. "Maybe we'll hit some traffic. Maybe Dad will say that curse word again that he let slip the other day!" He seemed delighted at the prospect.

"Its fine…but…wouldn't it be better if it was cold and rainy?" Sadness asked in a drab voice.

Joy just smiled; well, she thought it was a perfect day. She knew the others were getting bored; almost all of Riley's memories today were happy but that was a good thing.

The others continued to bicker amongst themselves but Joy kept her focus on Riley. As Riley laughed, waving her arm in the warm air, Joy held the ends of her dress and began to twirl around the console; things were under control and Riley was having the best day she had had since arriving in San Francisco.

It seemed so unnatural that something bad could come at such a perfect moment; Joy wouldn't have even considered it. She was so focused on the great sound of Riley's laughter and her own inner peace that she never saw it coming. It happened so fast no one saw it but Fear and only he saw it a fraction of a second before it happened.

"Oh my! Is that a….." Fear yelled. He was cut off violently as the sound of a deafening crash rang out through the room and Riley's view went black.

Joy stumbled onto the floor at the alarm. "What's happening? What was that?" Joy asked, picking herself up off the floor and rubbing her knees.

"Oh my gosh…oh my….This is the worst!" Fear was on his knees by the console, his fingers in his mouth, sweating bullets. He was always upset but Joy had never quite seen him this upset.

"What is?" Joy asked. She walked over to the console but nothing happened.

"We were in an accident! After all of this time…I knew something like this would happen and it finally did!" Fear said, shaking as he looked up at the blackened screen.

"What kind of accident?" Joy asked. She began to feel shaky herself; what if Riley was hurt?

"A car hit us! A CAR!" Fear yelled. "On the list of worst things ever to happen to us this is at the TOP!"

"We were in a car accident?" Joy asked nervously. Fear was shaking on the floor and Sadness was already beginning to weep.

"This is terrible! What if we die?" Sadness wailed.

"I bet we will…we were hit by a CAR! People always die in car accidents!" Fear yelled irrationally.

"You two…..you need to stop" Disgust said. Her lip was shaking and her breaths shallow as she began to panic. "You're making this worse!"

"Of course they're making it worse! This is terrible!" Anger yelled but Joy could see tears even in his eyes.

Joy felt frozen for a moment; Riley was in a car accident. She had never been in such a bad situation before. But looking around at the others, Joy forced herself to remain calm; someone had to.

"Listen…..we don't know that it's all so bad" Joy tried to say positively. She walked over to the console and tried to make something happen. Nothing happened; she couldn't get Riley to do anything. Feeling a wave of panic mounting, Joy checked dream production. "I'm sure Riley's just asleep" Joy said positively as she checked dream production. But when it too was silent, Joy wasn't sure what else to do.

"Why…..why won't she wake up?" Joy asked, muffling most of the alarm in her voice as she mashed the buttons.

"Because she's not asleep, Joy" Sadness said between her wails, moping her tears with her sleeve. "She unconscious."

"Unconscious? What's that? Some horrible disease?" Disgust asked, her eyes wide with uncharacteristic alarm.

"It's brought on my injury or illness; it's like being asleep but you can't wake up" Sadness said, openly crying. "It means Riley is in really big trouble!"

"You mean…..cant wake up…..like forever?" Fear asked shrilly.

"Well, not forever. But a really long time" Sadness said.

"Unless we die…and then we NEVER wake up!" Fear said. He dissolved into tears in a heap next to sadness.

"Well, there's got to be something we can do to wake her up, even from being unconscious" Joy said positively. Her heart was beating fast and she felt funny.

"There's nothing we can go" Sadness said, "We can't check anything or see anything at all until she is conscious again."

"That can't be right! What do you know?" Anger yelled, making Sadness cry harder. He swiped at his own eyes.

"It was in the manuals!" Sadness wailed.

"So…..you mean…..she's stuck like this? For maybe forever?" Disgust asked. Her lip trembled harder until she fell down on the ground next to Sadness and Fear.

"Riley…..stupid, idiot drivers….they hurt her" Anger said, his voice misty as he sat down next to Disgust.

Joy was frozen at the controls, feeling like her chest was hurting and making it hard to breathe. What was happening? Only minutes ago Riley had been so happy…..she was having the best day ever. The cartoons and laughing, the hockey and the ice cream…..the new friend….Now what? All Joy wanted was for Riley to wake up so she could make her happy. It was her job to keep Riley happy and well. Now, she couldn't do anything for her.

Joy turned around to see Fear, Sadness, Disgust and Anger all sitting on the floor crying. She tried to think of something positive to say; she wanted to make everyone feel better. But she couldn't…she could think of a single thing to make this better. Joy's eyes stung and she realized that she was going to cry too. She didn't want to, but Joy gave into her tears, weeping for Riley and how scary it all was; crying because Joy felt like it was her fault.


	2. Chapter 2

Joy had never felt so sad or cried so much. She lost sight of how long she and the others held each other and cried. It was very hard to keep track of time when there was nothing going on and nothing to do. They were all so worried about Riley and what had happened but they couldn't change anything. It was the worst kind of a problem; a problem they couldn't fix. No matter what had happened in Riley's life, they had been able to fix it. Even after all of Riley's personality islands had gone down when she moved to San Francisco, they'd been able to fix it and help her through that terrible time. But now…they couldn't help her and they didn't even know how badly she was hurt.

It should have been Joy's job to rally the troops; whenever emotions ran high at Head Quarters, she always was the one to step in make everyone see that things weren't as bad as they seemed. Only now, they were as bad as they seemed and nothing Joy said could fix that. Sadness had helped her learn that there was a time for all emotions, even sadness, and this was one of those times.

Joy felt responsible for what had happened. She had been at the controls at the time of the accident but she hadn't even been looking. She'd been dancing, lost in her own thoughts. Part of her knew that she could have done nothing to stop the car speeding out of control toward their car but that didn't stop her from feeling like she'd failed Riley. With Joy at the controls, Riley had been injured worse than she ever had before.

It was a bad time for the emotions. There was nothing to do in the dark, dreary Head Quarters but sit and sulk and that's what they do. For a long time, longer than any of them can remember doing anything, they just sit and be sad. Sleep for long periods of time…cry a lot. The personality islands are silent; the memory orbs sit still, the console useless.

After a long time, Joy begins to think about what happens if Riley _doesn't_ wake up. It wasn't her first thought; at first she was sure that Riley would be okay and would wake up happy and healthy at home. But the longer that time goes on with her asleep, Joy finds it harder to accept that as what's going to happen. Riley could be unconscious for a long time; Sadness said the manuals said there was such a thing as a coma where the brain was inactive for YEARS. Years…and even then they could still die. The thought of Riley dying, perfect, sweet, Riley, makes Joy cry again. She doesn't want to face it…..but it's a possibility and they have to be prepared for it. If Riley dies, they all would die too; they were created when she was. And that finally gives Joy a great idea because if they are at the end of their lives, Joy doesn't want them to go out crying and being miserable.

"Alright, everyone! Come over here." Joy said, standing up and dusting herself off. A bit of her characteristic happiness is coming back to her voice.

"Why?" Fear asked tiredly.

"What's the point?" Sadness asked, wiping her eyes.

"Come on guys!" Joy said happily, feeling herself gain speed. She even feels her glow coming back which is strange, considering the thoughts she's been having. "We've had our time to be sad, now it's time to be happy. Everyone sit up and scoot next to each other."

"Happy? What do we have to be _happy_ for?" Disgust asked.

"Trust me guys" Joy said. She was glad when everyone did trust her. They all sat up and scooted on the floor next to each other until they had made a circle.

"Okay….what kind of cockamamie plan you have up your sleeve, Joy?" Anger asked grumpily, crossing his arms over his chest. He cried, only one time, but he seems to take it personally.

"Listen guys, I know this is hard" Joy said, doing her best to rally them. "I've been really upset too. We can't do anything about Riley's condition and that's really scary."

"Really scary is an understatement" Fear said dramatically. "It's terrifying!"

"I know" Joy said. "But…we can't change it. We have to accept that."

"Real positive, Joy" Disgust said, crossing her arms.

"Can't we just all have a cry again?" Sadness asked moodily.

"We can…later" Joy said. "Right now, I want us all to try something"

"I hope it's not more hugs" Anger said.

"No….." Joy said with a smile. "I want us all to think of our favorite memory with Riley. We are all really sad but if we think of the good times we've had with Riley, it will help."

"I don't know, Joy….." Sadness said unconvinced.

"Let's just try it" Joy said happily. "I'll go first."

Joy thought about Riley and all of the great memories she had. There were hundreds of memories that she could have called her favorite, but she forced herself to narrow down on one for the purpose of the activity.

"One of my favorite memories with Riley is my first memory with her" Joy said, feeling her heart explode with happiness at it. "Riley saw her parents for the first time and she felt so happy, so complete; all was well with her. I loved that feeling of happiness and wholeness. I wish I could have kept her like that forever."

The happy memory was almost enough to make Joy sad again. She blinked heavily as she looked to Sadness next to her.

"Okay, Sadness" Joy said. "Your turn. What's one of your favorite Riley memories?"

"Oh…..okay….." Sadness said, looking down morosely as she thought. "Well…..I guess one of my favorite memories with Riley was the core memory you and I made Joy…..together. When Riley almost ran away and she came home…..she cried harder than she ever had before. Mom and Dad cried too"

There was a long silence that passed between the group after Sadness' admission and she cringed. "I did it again….didn't I? That was a sad memory, not a happy one." She said miserably.

"No….that's good!" Joy said enthusiastically, putting her arm around Sadness. "That memory was really sad because everyone was crying. But it was happy because Riley knew that Mom and Dad loved her and that they felt the way she did. That made her happy. Good job, Sadness!" Joy turned toward Fear next. "Fear?"

Fear jumped slightly at the sound of his name. He bit his nails as he looked around the group; it was obviously scary for him to share with group. "I liked when Riley was safe…she's not safe now. I'm supposed to keep her safe"

Joy could tell that Fear was about to break down and she wanted to stop it; for the moment at least. "Great! Keeping Riley safe is great" Joy enthused. "What was a time you kept Riley safe?"

Fear sniffled, rubbing his nose but he didn't cry. "I liked that one time at swim class" he said hesitantly. "Riley thought about going on that huge slippy slide but I stopped her. I knew it wasn't safe and do you know I was right? A boy slid off that slide and the lifeguard had to get him!" Fear seemed gratified by the fact that he had saved Riley from perceived chance of drowning.

"That's excellent!" Joy said honestly, clapping her hands enthusiastically. "You saved Riley from something really dangerous. That's great! Disgust?" Joy plows on to Disgust before anyone can realize Fear's memory of keeping Riley safe is reminding them that she's not safe now.

Disgust looks around the group. "Do I _have_ to?" she asks. She wants to sound like she doesn't care, wants to sound aloof. But Joy can tell she's still sad.

"You don't have to" Joy said. "But surely you want to say something nice about Riley?"

Disgust looks around before she studies her hands in her lap; her eyes looked misty but she finally speaks. "It was pretty cool when she wore that amazing purple top with that little skirt on the first day of school last year" Disgust said with mild pride. "All of the other girls looked at her. A few even told her how pretty she looked."

"Yes, that's fantastic!" Joy said. "Riley is very pretty and you help keep her in such good taste. Anger?"

Anger looked up, his face passive and missing his characteristic fury. "Remember last week's hockey game when the other team was about to score? Riley slammed into that scrawny little kid so hard he fell on the ice on his tiny little butt!"

And then Anger did a beautiful, unbelievable thing; he started to laugh. As Anger laughed at the memory, it seemed to catch. Pretty soon they were all laughing and Joy was relieved; her plan seemed to be working. Joy was still getting used to the feeling of being happy and sad at the same time. It was odd but for some moments, like this one, it just felt right.


	3. Chapter 3

Things were still sad around Head Quarters; there was still plenty of crying and worrying about Riley's condition but there seemed to be a balance between the sorrow and happiness. More often than not, when one of the emotions would open their mouth to speak, it was to share another memory of Riley that they loved. Sometimes they laughed, sometimes they cried at the memories…but it was good. If Joy had learned one thing from Sadness it was that all emotions had their time.

They did their best to carry on but they didn't know how to deal with life without Riley. She was their whole world and without her life was dull and meaningless. They read tons of manuals, hoping to gleam the smallest bit of info about how they could help Riley but, as they feared, there was nothing they could do but wait.

They were pouring over the manuals, books and papers spread across the floor when something finally happened. It was quiet as everyone was reading when the ground began to shake under them.

"Whoa! What was that? Joy asked, regaining her balance. The ground was shaking under their feet, the sound of loud crashing all around them.

"It's happening! It's finally happening! We're dying!" Fear said in panic, his hands on his cheeks in alarm.

"No! No we can't! I refuse!" Anger said, jumping up and shaking his fists.

"I knew it…I knew this would happen" Sadness said, falling down on the ground.

It was pandemonium around Joy and it would have been easy for her to panic but she made herself look around for clues. When she did, she could see that Riley's personality islands were beginning to shake and sputter to life, the console lights flickering on and off. Joy felt hope rising inside of her like a bubble.

"Wait guys!" she said loudly, to get their attention as they ran around the room crying and screaming. "Calm down! We're not dying…..I think Riley's waking up!"

That got everyone attention. Fear, Disgust, Sadness and Anger stopped in their tracks, all eyes whipping around to the screen. A collective sigh went through the group as they saw fuzzy light coming onto the screen.

"What do we do?" Fear asked in a trembling voice.

Joy rushed forward to the console as they lights stayed permanently on this time; she knew exactly what to do. "Come on guys, places at the console. We all need to be here as our girl wakes up."

Everyone else came up to the console, standing at the ready for whoever Riley would need. They watched in quiet anticipation as Riley's eyes opened, blurry to the bright light around her. She blinked several times and her vision got clearer. The room was so bright she had to squint but as her eyes looked around she found Mom and Dad sitting in a chair next to the bed that she was lying in. It was a strange place she was in; there were large machines around her bed beeping and every time Riley moved, pain alarms went off for her whole body. She watched as Mom and Dad held each other and cried quiet so she couldn't hear. When Sadness moved up to take control, no one stopped her.

They could hear the sound of Riley's quiet cries ringing throughout the speakers and though it was normally a sad sound, one they tried to avoid, this time Joy thought it was a sweet sound; it meant that Riley was awake and alive.

"Mom…..Dad? Mom, Dad!" Riley said, her voice cracking fearfully through her tears as Sadness and Fear took control together.

Mom and Dad looked up, notching her distress. Despite the fact that they had tears on their faces, they were smiling at her. They sat on each side of her, holding her hands.

"What's going on?" Riley asked, still tearful. "What happened?"

Joy, along with everyone else, held her breath as she waited for Mom and Dad's answer. How bad was it? Was Riley okay now that she was awake? Joy was alarmed by how much pain was sensed through Riley's body.

"We were in a car accident" Dad explained, his face sad but he was relieved too. Relieved like they all were; relived that she was awake.

"Am I okay? Everything hurts" Riley said. Fear was punching the buttons furiously but for once he was silent. Joy could see the worry written on his face, trying to assess all of Riley's injuries. They all waited nervously for the answer.

"Yes, you are fine. Everything is alright now" Mom said, her eyes misty.

"You got some bumps and bruises so that's why you're sore" Dad explained. "But you are completely fine"

"Did you hear that? Mom and Dad say Riley's fine. Do you think they mean it?" Fear asked in a quiet voice as he broke the silence.

Joy was smiling but she felt tears in her eyes. She gazed up in awe at the screen as she watched Mom and Dad give Riley a hug. "Yes…I think they really do" Joy said sincerely.

They were all watching the screen as they heard a sound behind them. Turning around, they could see a new memory pop up, with mixed blue, purple and yellow.

"It's a core memory!" Sadness said. She rushed over first, followed by everyone else. She was still unaccustomed to having blue core memories that she was partially responsible for.

Joy rushed ahead, following the core memory, smiling as she saw Riley and her Mom and Dad hugging each other. As she looked up, she could see Family Island restarting and coming to life.

Joy clutched the core memory as she looked at Family Island. "Well, guys, our girl is awake and we have a job to do!" Joy said excitedly and they all rushed toward the console, ready to take of the great job of maintaining Riley.


End file.
